Money for animal shelter still on hold

Thursday

Nov 15, 2012 at 9:06 PM

Animals at the Terrebonne Animal Shelter will have to wait even longer for a better facility.

Chance RyanStaff Writer

Animals at the Terrebonne Animal Shelter will have to wait even longer for a better facility. A Nov. 1 Houma-Terrebonne Public Trust Financing Authority meeting was unofficial because an authority member was absent, so a decision to allocate money for the project wasn’t an option. On Thursday, parish officials, representatives from the animal shelter and volunteers from Friends of Terrebonne Animal Shelter gathered again at the Government Tower in Houma to make their presentation and request money from the authority. But once again, not having all members present, the authority voted to take no action and to reconvene on an undetermined date. The shelter has a variety of problems, which Tom Bourg, Terrebonne Parish utilities director, addressed at the Nov. 1 meeting.“It is the equivalent of a dog-pound facility,” Bourg said. “Basically what we have now is a bunch of cages where the unadoptable and the adoptable — the aggressive and the friendly — are all just crammed together.”The shelter at 131 Plant Road is divided into five parts. Its entrance is a small room with a receptionist where animals can be dropped off. The original shelter building, built in the 1960s, connects to the entrance where there are 16 dog runs and 39 cat cages for visitors to view the animals. Next-door is the ill-cat building. The next building is a portable shed divided in half where the veterinarian works and the animals that are not ready for adoption are held. In the back is the administration office.Since 2009, members of the shelter, parish officials and advocates have been trying to reach their goal of raising $2 million for a new facility to be built just north of the U.S. 90 and La. 24 interchange.The Parish Council approved a $1 million federal recovery grant from hurricanes Gustav and Ike in July to go toward the new shelter. The shelter came up with $250,000 from donations, and Friends of the Terrebonne Animal Shelter raised about $30,000 from fundraising. But Parish President Michel Claudet said that’s still not enough.“We figure that if we have about $2 million total we can actually start the construction,” Claudet said. “The architect has already been appointed, and they are ready to go.”A new facility is critical for Terrebonne, Claudet said, and it needs to be roughly double the size it is now. One of the major reasons for a new building is that the old one floods during storms.The shelter flooded quickly and suffered some damage during hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The new location in Gray is not in a flood zone.Bourg said another reason for the new facility is to provide an attractive place that makes visitors comfortable adopting.A new shelter would accommodate the staff and provide areas where potential visitors can get acquainted with the animals to consider, Claudet said.Bourg said state-of-the-art veterinarian facilities, storage space, and dog and cat runs in the adjacent areas are planned at the new shelter.When the shelter first opened, it took in fewer than 1,000 animals a year, Bourg said. The shelter now takes in around 7,000 animals a year. At any given time, the shelter houses 50 to 180 animals. And that’s why shelter workers encourage residents to spay and neuter their pets and adopt from the shelter. Bourg said low-cost spay and neuter programs are a thing of the past. “We’re providing full-vet services for adoptable pets. We’re working with many rescue groups, including PetSmart charities, to take adoptable animals and move them out of the community so they can get the highest possible adoptable rates.”The shelter falls under the parish Utilities Department because since the 1980s it has received money to operate from solid-waste collection fees. Claudet said this project is something the parish has thoroughly planned for, and he anticipates it will eventually happen. “It is easier for a politician to cut a ribbon than to keep facilities open in the future,” Claudet said. “This is a slow process — that’s how it goes — but we will get it done.”